The present invention relates to a recording/reproducing device for recording/reproducing television signals (as will be called the "TV signals") or the like and, more particularly, to a recording/reproducing device which is able to convert TV signals and second signals mutually by combining a converting function using digital signal processing.
There is a converter unit capable of converting signals of different formats/resolutions of personal computers, workstations or VTRs.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a recording/reproducing device having a conventional converter unit connected therewith.
In FIG. 12: reference numeral 1 designates a conventional VTR; numeral 2 a video cassette tape for recording video signals; numeral 10 a device such as a computer having RGB outputs; numeral 11 a distributor for outputting RGB signals, as inputted from the device 10, to a plurality of units including a converter and a change-over unit; numeral 12 a down-convert unit for converting inputted RGB signals into video signals and outputting the video signals or for outputting inputted video signals as they are; numeral 13 a video input terminal in the VTR for inputting video signals from another device; numeral 14 an antenna for receiving TV waves; numeral 15 and antenna input terminal for inputting signals from the antenna 14; numeral 3 a tuner for converting signals, as inputted from the antenna input terminal 15, into video signals; numeral 4 a change-over switch for selecting one of the video signals coming from the video input terminal 13 and the tuner 3, to send it to a downstream block; numeral 5 a recording block for recording video signals; numeral 6 a magnetic recording/reproducing block acting as a deck portion and a circuit for recording signals, as converted by the recording block 5, on the video tape 2; numeral 7 a reproducing block for converting the signals on the video tape 2, as fetched by the magnetic recording/reproducing block 6, into video signals; numeral 8 a control block for controlling the system entirety of the VTR 1 by a switch or a remote control; numeral 16 an antenna output terminal for outputting RF signals, as outputted from the reproducing block, to the outside of the VTR 1; numeral 17 a video output terminal for outputting video signals, as outputted from the reproducing block 11, to the outside of the VTR 1; numeral 18 an up-convert unit for converting inputted video signals into RGB signals to output them or for outputting the inputted video signals as they are; numeral 19 a switcher for selecting one of a plurality of RGB input signals, as inputted from the distributor 11 or the up-convert unit 18, to output it; numeral 20 a display monitor for displaying inputted RGB signals as an image; and numeral 21 a device such as a TV set for displaying inputted video signals as an image.
When the VTR 1 is put into an ordinary use in the system construction described above, the down-convert unit 12 makes a selection to output the inputted video signals as they are. When the signals of the personal computer 10 or the like are to be displayed on the display monitor 20 or the like, the switcher 19 makes a selection to output the input signals from the distributor 11.
When the reproduced signals of the antenna input terminal 15, the video input terminal 13 and the video tape 2 are to be displayed on the display monitor 20 or the like for displaying the RGB signals as an image, on the other hand, the switcher 19 makes a selection to output the input signal from the up-convert unit 18. When the RGB signals, as outputted from the personal computer 10 or the like, are to be displayed on the TV set 21 or the like, on the other hand, the down-convert unit 12 makes a selection to convert the RGB signals into the video signals and to output them.
Here, the recording/reproducing device having the aforementioned converter unit connected therewith can be used in the following device.
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a construction to be used in the video CD player, VD player, LD player or DVD player of the prior art.
In FIG. 13: reference numeral 31 designates a reproducing disk; numeral 32 a disk player such as a DVD player for reproducing the reproducing disk 31; numeral 33 a video output terminal; and numeral 34 a home TV set connected with the video output terminal. Moreover, the disk player 32 is composed of a reproducing block 35 for reproductively processing the signals recorded in the reproducing disk 31, and a video conversion processing circuit 36 for converting the reproduced signals into video signals.
In the construction described above, the signals, as obtained from the reproducing disk 31, are processed by the reproducing block and the video conversion so that they are outputted as the video signals from the video output terminal 33 thereby to display the recorded image in the home TV set 34 or the like.
In recent years, on the other hand, there have been used an increasing number of disk reproducing device which has a portion of the function of a disk ROM connected with a computer for the data transfer.
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a construction to be used in a personal computer video CD player of the prior art.
In FIG. 14: reference numeral 41 designates a reproducing disk; numeral 42 a disk unit; numeral 43 a reproducing block for reproducing signals recorded in the reproducing disk 41; numeral 44 a data bus interface (I/F) for connecting the disk unit 42 with the personal computer; numeral 45 the personal computer; numeral 46 a data bus interface (I/F) for connecting the personal computer 45 with the disk unit 42; numeral 47 a CPU; numeral 48 a data bus for connecting the CPU 47 and each circuit; numeral 49 a PC data conversion processing circuit for converting input signals to be inputted to the personal computer 45, into digital data signals for the personal computer; numeral 50 a video conversion processing unit for converting data into video signals; numeral 51 a D/A converter for converting digital video signals into analog video signals; numeral 52 a video output terminal for outputting video signals; and numeral 53 a display monitor connected with the video output terminal 52.
In this construction, the signals, as obtained from the reproducing disk 41, are processed by the producing block, and the digital data for the data bus are then converted and inputted to the inside of the personal computer 45 through the data bus I/F 44 and 46. The inputted video signals are converted by the PC data conversion processing circuit 49 into data bus digital data, which are inputted to another video conversion processing unit 50 via the data bus 48 connected with the CPU 47, so that they are converted into video signals. The video signals thus converted are subjected to a D/A conversion by the D/A converter 51 so that they are outputted as the RGB (i.e., analog video signals in red, green and blue colors) outputs from the RGB output terminal 52 thereby to display the image or the like, as recorded in the reproducing disk 41, in the computer display monitor 53.
In this recording/reproducing device of the prior art, however, the recording/reproduction of the second signals (i.e., signals of a system other than the TV signal system) in the VTR (i.e., the recording/reproducing device), as shown in FIG. 12, could be realized by connecting the up-convert unit 18 (i.e., a converter U) 18 for converting the TV signals into the second signals and the down-convert unit (i.e., a converter D) for converting the second signals into the TV signals. However, the switching operations at the input selecting time are complicated, as described above. Another problem is that two sets of convert units having similar constructions have to be incorporated.
In the disk devices shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, on the other hand, in accordance with the large capacity of the disk media of recent years, from the manner to reproduce the video information recorded in the disk 31, as shown in FIG. 13, to display it in the home TV set 34, there is increasing the method of using the disk device which has two aspects of the reproducing device and the video reproducing device for reproducing data to be used in the computer, as shown in FIG. 13. When the disk device is merely used as the video reproducing device, the system shown in FIG. 14 us used as the data reproducing device, too, so that the inputted data never fail to be subjected to a video conversion before they are fed to the data bus, and are outputted as the RGB outputs to the display monitor. This raises a problem that the CPU is burdened.